By zapping water with lasers, researchers were able to observe an 'exotic' hot ice that they say could exist throughout much of the universe.

The findings, published in Nature by scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California, further observe the characteristics of a substance called superionic ice, created by the same lab last year.

Now, using giant lasers to flash freeze water, scientists say they have been able to observe the microscopic structure of the hybrid substance which acts like both a solid and a liquid.

Superionic ice acts as both a solid and a a liquid, leading researchers to describe the substance as 'exotic'. An artistic rendering is pictured

WHAT IS THE OMEGA LASER?

The OMEGA laser, located at the University of Rochester in New York, is among the most powerful lasers in the world.

It uses a 60 beams to test different types of plasma, radiation, and other materials.

Recently it was used by researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to study the structure of superionic ice.

While the facility has been threatened with closure in recent years, it continues to be used to explore high-energy physics and other fields.

'We wanted to determine the atomic structure of superionic water,' said LLNL physicist Federica Coppari, who was co-lead author of the paper.

'But given the extreme conditions at which this elusive state of matter is predicted to be stable, compressing water to such pressures and temperatures and simultaneously taking snapshots of the atomic structure was an extremely difficult task, which required an innovative experimental design.'

To conduct their observations, researchers say they employed one of the most powerful lasers in the world, the OMEGA Laser, at University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics.

The six lasers were used to generate shock waves and compress the water to between 1 to 4 million times the Earth's atmospheric pressure and between 3,300 to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

To capture the actual structure of the newly formed superionic water-ice, researchers used 16 additional laser pulses to blast an iron foil that creates x-rays capable of illuminating the crystals.

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'The X-ray diffraction patterns we measured are an unambiguous signature for dense ice crystals forming during the ultra-fast shockwave compression demonstrating that nucleation of solid ice from liquid water is fast enough to be observed in the nanosecond timescale of the experiment,' Coppari said.

The experiment not only adds to the growing body of evidence and science around the mysterious superionic ice but could have implications on the core of ice giant's like Uranus and Neptune.

It took one of the world's most powerful lasers to prove the existence of an exotic, superheated, ice that could make up the interior of water planets throughout the universe

While previous hypotheses posited that the the planets' cores may be similar to that of Earth's, the discovery shows that the mysterious icey substance observed by researchers may be a more likely candidate.

'It's probably better to picture that superionic ice would flow similarly to the Earth's mantle, which is made of solid rock, yet flows and supports large-scale convective motions on the very long geological timescales,' said LLNL physicist and co-lead author Marius Millot.

'This can dramatically affect our understanding of the internal structure and the evolution of the icy giant planets, as well as all their numerous extra-solar cousins.'

The evidence of the substance confirms a projection that dates back to 1988, when scientists predicted that the pressurization of oxygen and hydrogen within the water planets' cores would create superionic ice.

HOW DOES URANUS'S MAGNETIC FIELD COMPARE TO EARTH'S?

A recent study analyzing data collected more than 30 years ago by the Voyager 2 spacecraft has found that the Uranus's global magnetosphere is nothing like Earth’s, which is known to be aligned nearly with our planet’s spin axis.

A false-color view of Uranus captured by Hubble is pictured

According to the researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology, this alignment would give rise to behaviour that is vastly different from what’s seen around Earth.

Uranus lies and rotates on its side, leaving its magnetic field tilted 60 degrees from its axis.

As a result, the magnetic field ‘tumbles’ asymmetrically relative to the solar wind.

As a result, the magnetic field ‘tumbles’ asymmetrically relative to the solar wind.

When the magnetosphere is open, it allows solar wind to flow in.

But, when it closes off, it creates a shield against these particles.

The researchers suspect solar wind reconnection takes place upstream of Uranus’s magnetosphere at different latitudes, causing magnetic flux to close in various parts.